The present invention relates to a method of, and an apparatus for, measuring a solid pattern profile using an electron beam, which is particularly suitable for the measurement of a surface area of a fine pattern of an LSI.
As a conventional technique for measuring a solid profile of a fine pattern of an LSI or the like using a scanning electron microscope (SEM), there is known and widely used a cross section observing method for observing a cross section by cutting a specimen having a fine pattern.
With such a conventional cross section observing method, it is necessary to cut a specimen. The observed specimen cannot be used as a product. Even if a specimen is disposable, it is very difficult for a trench pattern having a depth greater than the diameter to be cut vertically relative to the substrate along the central axis thereof. Furthermore, it is necessary to provide other information such as pattern pitch so that a pattern cut vertically along the central axis can be discriminated from a plurality of cut patterns.
The cross section is used for calculating a surface area which is important for calculating, for example, the capacitance of a trench capacitor. Even if the cross section observing method can be used, it is difficult to correctly and speedily measure the surface area by approximating the cross section by straight lines.